Post by Jonel on Dec 22, 2006 13:23:31 GMT -5
By David Burke
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The marquee may say “The Temptations Holiday Show,” but don’t expect too much Christmas romanticizing from the legendary Motown group.
“When it gets near Christmastime, promoters want to call it a ‘Christmas tour,’ but to us, we just add a couple of Christmas tunes from ‘The Temptations Give Love at Christmas’ CD,” Otis Williams, the group’s lone original member, said in a phone interview from New York. “We just do ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ And we do the rest of the hits and make it a good show.”
Williams gave a phone interview Monday, one day after The Temptations were among those lauding Smokey Robinson — the group’s first producer, as well as being a Motown notable himself — at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., and a day before the Temps’ Christmas tour began at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.
The 67-year-old Williams agreed with one assessment of Robinson on Sunday night, that called him a “poet laureate-songwriter.” Robinson was behind such Temps hits as “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Get Ready” and “Since I Lost My Baby.”
“He left it loose, so we could add whatever harmonies we wanted, but by and large Smokey was very together as far as the producer thing,” Williams said. “He came to us with 90 or 95 complete songs, and left the door open to us to enhance it.”
Robinson was among those who received the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, along with Steven Spielberg, Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Williams said it was a thrill to play for the VIP audience.
“It’s one thing to deal with the general public, but when you deal with high-powered people like the president and his wife and Condoleeza Rice and all the power brokers, it’s something else,” he said.
But, Williams said, he hopes that’s the feeling he wants to get every night.
“You touch a very special chord, to the point where the music is so universal. We go out and make a bond, and hope people enjoy what we do,” he said.
The 46th anniversary of The Temptations — a group formed by two other bands, The Primes and The Distants — is next Monday. Williams said The Temptations were the right group at the right time.
“I was a matter of not only the Temps, but Motown itself and all its stalwart artists, coming along at a time when the world was in upheaval,” he said. “We had the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, women’s lib kicking off, riots at universities. There were a whole lot of things that were developing in the ’60s. And Motown was coming along with great music.
“It was like a good dose of penicillin to heal a troubled soul at the time. The music was such that it helped people make it through the troubled times they were having.”
There were plenty of behind-the-scenes struggles for the group — enough that a TV-movie was made several years ago — which Williams said was a regrettable part of the Temptation history.
“I wish it hadn’t happened. We vowed we weren’t going to be like those groups we admired, like The Flamingos or Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers or the Cadillacs, those notable groups that were before us,” he said. “Sometimes success can accelerate the change. You become independent, and ideas start flowing at a different pattern.
“I hate it, but like I always say, that’s the way the side walks.”
From its original hits through the “Big Chill” revival of the 1980s to present day, Williams said the Temptations are still finding new fans.
“Surprisingly enough, I hear from a lot of young people who come up to me and say, ‘Mr. Williams, you guys make better music than what we have today,’” he said. “We’re talking about kids in their late teens, 20s. Their parents say, ‘Yeah, that’s all they listen to is the Temptations, Stax Records, Motown.’
“I’m very happy to hear that real good music is still able to be found.”
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.
© Copyright 2006, The Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA
www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/12/07/entertainment/music/doc4577a6da69a42183216223.txt
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The marquee may say “The Temptations Holiday Show,” but don’t expect too much Christmas romanticizing from the legendary Motown group.
“When it gets near Christmastime, promoters want to call it a ‘Christmas tour,’ but to us, we just add a couple of Christmas tunes from ‘The Temptations Give Love at Christmas’ CD,” Otis Williams, the group’s lone original member, said in a phone interview from New York. “We just do ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ And we do the rest of the hits and make it a good show.”
Williams gave a phone interview Monday, one day after The Temptations were among those lauding Smokey Robinson — the group’s first producer, as well as being a Motown notable himself — at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., and a day before the Temps’ Christmas tour began at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.
The 67-year-old Williams agreed with one assessment of Robinson on Sunday night, that called him a “poet laureate-songwriter.” Robinson was behind such Temps hits as “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Get Ready” and “Since I Lost My Baby.”
“He left it loose, so we could add whatever harmonies we wanted, but by and large Smokey was very together as far as the producer thing,” Williams said. “He came to us with 90 or 95 complete songs, and left the door open to us to enhance it.”
Robinson was among those who received the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, along with Steven Spielberg, Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Williams said it was a thrill to play for the VIP audience.
“It’s one thing to deal with the general public, but when you deal with high-powered people like the president and his wife and Condoleeza Rice and all the power brokers, it’s something else,” he said.
But, Williams said, he hopes that’s the feeling he wants to get every night.
“You touch a very special chord, to the point where the music is so universal. We go out and make a bond, and hope people enjoy what we do,” he said.
The 46th anniversary of The Temptations — a group formed by two other bands, The Primes and The Distants — is next Monday. Williams said The Temptations were the right group at the right time.
“I was a matter of not only the Temps, but Motown itself and all its stalwart artists, coming along at a time when the world was in upheaval,” he said. “We had the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, women’s lib kicking off, riots at universities. There were a whole lot of things that were developing in the ’60s. And Motown was coming along with great music.
“It was like a good dose of penicillin to heal a troubled soul at the time. The music was such that it helped people make it through the troubled times they were having.”
There were plenty of behind-the-scenes struggles for the group — enough that a TV-movie was made several years ago — which Williams said was a regrettable part of the Temptation history.
“I wish it hadn’t happened. We vowed we weren’t going to be like those groups we admired, like The Flamingos or Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers or the Cadillacs, those notable groups that were before us,” he said. “Sometimes success can accelerate the change. You become independent, and ideas start flowing at a different pattern.
“I hate it, but like I always say, that’s the way the side walks.”
From its original hits through the “Big Chill” revival of the 1980s to present day, Williams said the Temptations are still finding new fans.
“Surprisingly enough, I hear from a lot of young people who come up to me and say, ‘Mr. Williams, you guys make better music than what we have today,’” he said. “We’re talking about kids in their late teens, 20s. Their parents say, ‘Yeah, that’s all they listen to is the Temptations, Stax Records, Motown.’
“I’m very happy to hear that real good music is still able to be found.”
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.
© Copyright 2006, The Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA
www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/12/07/entertainment/music/doc4577a6da69a42183216223.txt
